Patrick Long on the New 911

We asked Long to drive 10 mph in the new 911. (That's the speed limit on the sands of Daytona Beach.)

Patrick Long is just 30 years old, but the Californian already has seven years as a Porsche factory driver. His accomplishments come at race tracks around the world and include the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 12 Hours of Sebring and the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Long has been instrumental in putting Porsche's GT3 Hybrid race car in the winner's circle. Check it all out here.

Considering these high-speed accomplishments, we asked Long to drive 10 mph. (That's the speed limit on the sands of Daytona's beach.) From 1903 until the Daytona International Speedway was built in 1958, those sands were also an important part of American racing.

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You could see the look of temptation on Long's face, considering that under his right foot was 400 bhp from the 3.8-liter direct-injection flat-6 of our 911 Carrera S test car. It also makes 325 lb.-ft. of torque, so he could have sprayed sand the length of the beach. Matched to the PDK "automatic," we've gotten to 60 in 3.5 seconds, likely a few ticks quicker that if we'd had the 7-speed manual.

Regardless of gearbox, the top speed is 188 mph, which would clearly tempt a driver like Long.

That speed on the sand? Sound nuts? They were topping 200 mph on this very beach by 1927. And in 1935 Malcolm Campbell drove his Bluebird V to 276.8 mph on Daytona Beach. That machine weighed some 12,000 lb. while the new 911 scales at just over 3000.

Being a skosh longer and lower than its predecessors, the new 911 takes on a more balanced, less tail-heavy look. And that's even with those powerful-looking haunches.

Despite the 400 bhp and potent styling (and with a policeman seemingly taking an interest in what we were doing), Long managed to trundle slowly down the beach in the 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S and told us about the latest sports car from Zuffenhausen.